Fourth person accuses Mayor Ed Murray of sex abuse
May 2, 2017, 10:29 PM | Updated: May 3, 2017, 12:13 pm
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
A fourth person has filed a lawsuit against Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, claiming he was paid for sex.
Maurice Jones claimed he was introduced to Murray by Delvonn Heckard, who has also said he was abused by the mayor as a teen. Heckard’s attorney Lincoln Beauregard will join KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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According to court documents initially obtained by The Seattle Times, Jones said he had also been to Murray’s apartment in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He also said he’s gay and not part of a right-wing conspiracy.
Murray’s spokesperson Jeff Reading vehemently denied the most recent claim as false with the following statement:
As we’ve seen repeatedly from opposing counsel, this filing fits firmly into the category of sensational media stunt. Mayor Murray does not know this person. This is an ambush copycat false accusation that is being made without any details, evidence, timeline or anything at all to substantiate its veracity. Mayor Murray has never had inappropriate relations with any minor, and Mayor Murray has never paid for sex.
In an email to KIRO Radio, Reading also called the “read-’em-weep selfie” of Beauregard and Jones that was filed in King County Superior Court “extremely odd and unsettling.”
Murray has denied previous sex abuse allegations and has said he will not step down. He has said he has no idea who a previous accuser is — known as D.H. — and maintains that the man’s name, Delvonn Heckard, “is not familiar” to him. Murray said on April 19, “I can state categorically that I have never had a sexual relationship with this individual, Delvonn Heckard, of any kind or at any time.”
Heckard, 46, is described as an openly gay man with no real political inclinations, which contrasts with the mayor’s claims that the allegations are a part of a right-wing conspiracy because the mayor pushed the LGBTQ civil rights bill.
Murray has acknowledged that he does have a connection with Jeff Simpson, another one of his accusers.
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“I was his legal guardian for just under two years,” Murray told KIRO 7 on April 18, referring to Simpson.
Simpson is one of two Portland men who have accused the Seattle mayor of sexual abuse while they were minors in the 1980s.
Simpson has stressed that he is not asking for anything other than for the mayor to admit what he did.